Jack saw 222 days of continuous action in Europe and had advanced from being the youngest man and the junior Private to being the battlefield commissioned Platoon Leader, in the same Platoon; all without a scratch. Until just before war’s end, his men had believed he could not be hit by German fire. Before returning home after the war, he had the exceptionally rare experience of having gone from Private to Company Commander in the same company with no other assignments outside that unit.
Jack B. Warden was born in 1923 in Collin County, Texas. When he was four years old, his family moved to Abilene where he spent all his school years. The Wardens lived three blocks from the Underwoods and both families attended Temple Baptist Church on Sycamore Street. When the war first started, and knowing Jack would soon be going into the service, he and Rebecca Underwood married. Rebecca taught school and Jack answered his draft call, reporting for Army basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky in February 1943. In July 1943 he was sent to Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania where he became the junior Private assigned to the 3rd Platoon, Company B, 36th Armored Infantry Regiment, 3rd Armored Division. At age 19, every man in Company B was between six and 23 years older than Jack. He would not leave 3rd Platoon until, as First Lieutenant, he assumed command of the company after V-E Day. (Editors Note: It is extremely rare, even in wartime, for a private to rise in rank, receive a battlefield commission, and then command his company without ever leaving that unit of original assignment).
3rd Armored Division moved to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey shortly after Jack’s arrival and then sailed for England in September 1943. Jack’s unit was stationed at Sutton Veny on Salisbury Plains where they trained and waited for the Normandy Invasion. They boarded ship at Southampton, landed at Omaha Beach on Jun 23, 1944 (D+17), and were quickly committed to action.
Jack saw 3rd Platoon lose many men during the next 222 days of continuous action before he was himself wounded and medically evacuated. Company B never got enough replacements, and never had more than a fraction of authorized officer strength. Jack was promoted from Private to Staff Sergeant before he reluctantly accepted leadership of 3rd Platoon. Only Jack and two others remained in the Platoon after a costly attack on December 13th. Jack received his battlefield commission two days later. Replacements brought his platoon strength up to 17 men before the Battle of the Bulge erupted.
The 3rd Armored Division was committed to help contain the “Bulge”, and Lt Warden’s Platoon was about to engage in an epic fight. On Christmas Eve morning, 1944, Jack received a “frag order” by radio to go to Hotton, friends in trouble. Hotten (33 miles north of Bastogne) is a picturesque Belgian village on the Ourthe River, with a bridge and crossroads, and it was vital to the advancing Germans. Operating independently, 3rd Platoon, supported by two Medium and two Light Tanks, moved west for several miles to reach Hotton (along the same road where Chapter 1919 member, Ed Socha’s Platoon, from the Division’s Engineer Battalion, had been taken prisoner 3 days earlier). Jack Warden had barely positioned his 17 Infantrymen and 4 Tanks for defense of the town before darkness fell. Jack says, That Christmas Eve night was cold and clear as a bell, good visibility because of snow on the ground, when 1,500 Germans with 9 Tanks attacked about 7 PM. The Germans were beaten back several times and lost all 9 Panzers to our tanks and bazookas, but their Infantry kept returning. Finally, when the Germans got among the houses we were in, we tossed grenades out the windows to keep them away. We then called for Artillery right on top of our position and just covered up as best we could. The Artillery came in right on target and it broke up the attack, saving our tails. It was all over by about midnight, the Germans never came back. I only had one man wounded and that was minor. Lt Warden’s 3rd Platoon had stopped the Germans at Hotten, their western-most penetration in that sector of the Bulge.
On March 24, 1945, the 36th Armored Infantry crossed the Rhine near Cologne, and at 0400 hours, jumped off in the attack; towards Paderborn as a final objective. Jack said, That day, for the first time, I had a premonition that I was about to be hit. At Asbach, we were out forward of Company A on our left. Co A was under heavy fire from four Tanks. One of the German Tanks turned and fired on the building that we were in, wounding 6 of my men and all 17 German prisoners that we had just captured. I had a large shell fragment in my upper right arm, but it didn’t bleed badly; so I took two morphine shots and we continued the attack. As we approached the next village, we came upon the same four German Tanks – with white flags on their gun barrels. They surrendered. I talked briefly with the German Tank Commander (who spoke good English), of the tank that had wounded me; before I let the Medics take me back for treatment
Jack Warden was medically evacuated to a hospital in Paris and he would remain hospitalized for more than a month. He was released and rejoined his unit in May. By that time, Company B was at the Elbe River and the fighting was over. First Lieutenant Warden soon became Company Commander. Jack returned to the United States in February 1946 and was discharged at Camp Fannin in Tyler, Texas. Then it was home to Abilene. He and Rebecca moved to Waco in 1947 and lived there several years before making Austin their permanent home. Jack originally worked for the Wesson Oil Co., and eventually retired from Hunt-Wesson Foods in 1972. Jack Warden became a charter member, helping to establish Chapter 1919, Military Order of the Purple Heart. Jack Warden died February 11, 2014, at age 90.